Tyler Bozak went through the motions during the pre-game warmup to Game 6 at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday night but little more.

The Leafs’ No. 1 centre was on the ice for the pre-game warmup but did little. For much of it, he gripped his stick with his left hand only and did not participate in line rushes, heightening the speculation that he would not play.

And minutes before puck drop, the team announced he was being scratched with an undisclosed injury.

Bozak had been bothered with an upper-body ailment late in the season and struggled in the faceoff circle at times during the series. Despite arena PA man Andy Frost announcing that Joe Colborne was among the Leafs scratches, when the official lineup sheet was released minutes later, it showed that the former Bruins pick had drawn in to replace the banged-up Bozak, who had a big goal in Game 5 on Friday night back in Boston.

With Bozak out, Leafs coach Randy Carlyle was at his line-shuffling best trying to make up for the lack of a middle man for Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul. During the first period, anyway, Carlyle tried to get Jay McClement on for as many defensive zone faceoffs as possible.

The Bruins, meanwhile, had a couple of lineup changes of their own as they made their bid to avoid a Game 7 back at home on Monday. With defenceman Andrew Ference not making the trip with what was being reported as an illness, rookie blueliner Dougie Hamilton was back in, as was Wade Redden, who missed Game 5 in Boston with an undisclosed injury.

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